As Tara walked out of the room without anything as much as nodding her head, she saw the lady constable was standing with her daughter who was next to be interrogated.

Tara was flabbergasted! She said “What are you doing? She is just a girl and moreover she is shaken by the entire incident. How can you do this to my daughter?” Lady constable “Madam please let me do my job.” Tara “To hell with your job!” she called for Shekhar at the top of her voice. Listening to the commotion outside the room Java came out of the study. “What’s the problem? What’s happening here?” he demanded. Meanwhile, Shekhar also arrived at the scene. Tara “Shekhar how can you let this happen to our daughter?”

Turning her head towards Java she continued “She’s just 9 please keep her away from all this.” Before Shekhar could say anything Java said “Look Mrs. Dutta I am quite aware that your daughter is just 9 and she is traumatized right now. But she is also a prime witness to this murder case. Maybe she can lead this case to a new, solid evidence.” Tara “Fine, then I will be with her while you question her.” Java “Hahah no way Mrs. Dutta that’s out of the question. I want to talk to the girl alone.” Tara “But..” Java “If I want I can take her to my custody as a prime witness and take her to the police station to question her. Would you like that instead?” Shekhar came forward, and kept his hand on Tara shoulder and said “Its ok Tara, it’s just a matter of questioning.” Saying that he kneeled in front of Roohi and held her by her shoulders and said “You’ll be fine beta, don’t worry. Just tell the police uncle whatever he asks you. Ok?” Roohi nodded. Shekhar “Mumma and Papa will be right here just outside the door waiting for you.” Saying that he gave a hug and got back up. Java escorted Roohi inside the room and shut the door. Java “Come darling, sit here.” Guiding her to the chair in front of her fathers study table. Roohi sat down quietly and kept looking down. Java “What is your name darling?” It is not every other day he investigates small kids. However, in this case, the investigation of this 9-year-old was necessary. “Roohi” she replied. She looked at him with her tiny eyes which were clearly been scared. He liked it; he liked people being scared of him. Neither Tara, nor Jennifer was afraid of him. “Loohi… is that a name?” he mocked. “Roohi” she corrected.

“Okay, Loohi, don’t be scared, I am just going to ask you very simple questions. All you have to do is answer them correctly.. ok?” Roohi nodded in confirmation. Java “Just one thing, before answering my questions… think well and answer.” Java continued “So tell me about yourself.” Roohi said about herself and her school to him. He wasn’t patient enough for her to complete, and he wanted to move on with the important question, “What is your daily routine like?” Roohi was irritated by his impoliteness, but she was more scared then irritated. Roohi continued, “I wake up, dad makes me ready or at times Naina aunty does, and then I go to school,” she said without making an eye-contact with him.

Java asked impatiently, “Then…?”

“After coming home, I go to play, and then I go to tuitions and come back home, then eat and then sleep,” she said in haste. Java asked, “So how come you didn’t go to the tuitions today?” Roohi said, “While playing I got hurt and Cyrus bhaiya got me home.” “Hmmm… “ Java “What time does you mothers goes to work?” Roohi “By 9 AM” Java “And your father?” Roohi “He doesn’t work to work. He works from home.” Java “Oh I see. So he stays home alone with your Naina aunty? Err I mean use to?” Roohi looked up at him with a question mark on her face. Java looking at her sharping expecting an answer. She said, “I guess so.” Java “Ok never mind, tell me, who do you like more? Mom or Dad or Naina Aunty?” he asked with a smirk on his face. “Dad,” she said.

“Oh… You don’t like mom or Naina?”

“I like”

“Whom?”

“Both” “Hmmm…”

“Does anyone of your family members fight with Naina?” “No” “Sure?” “Mom fought with her because Naina uses my mom’s things.” “Using mom’s things eh?” he asked with a chuckle and quickly scribbled something on his notepad. Java continued, “Sweetheart one last question, can tell me everything you saw this evening? Like where were you what were you doing? What were others doing? How did you come to know.. you know.. your Naina aunty is stabbed at her back etc” Roohi told him how she had an accident while playing the the park and Cyrus picked her up and got her home. Then she told him that she got bandaged and her mother arrived with Jennifer aunty. Then she was at her bedroom playing game in her iPad. Then suddenly there was a power cut so she got out of the room to look for Naina aunty as she was scared in the dark.

Naina aunty knows where the candles are. That’s when she saw her laying on the floor and there was blood, a lot of blood. She didn’t know what to do and went out to look for her parents. Java “Hmm.. and did you see anyone go in or coming out of her room?” Roohi nodded in denial. Java picking up his cigar from ash tray “Ok Loohi.. you can go now. I may call you again later. Kappish!!” he said playfully. Roohi quickly got up and walked towards the door. Java stopped her, she got scared, he came close to her and asked, “Did your papa, mama, or anyone tell you to not tell me anything?” She thought for a while and then shook her head.

“Okay, you can go,” he said, thinking it all looked too easy. For a girl, who is merely 9 years old and had saw a dead body in a pool of blood, was too calm and composed. Her answers sounded rehearsed too. Java thought to himself, “Hmm.. Interesting, very interesting. The rabbit hole is far deeper than I had thought. This is going to be so much. ~to be continued here…

Kids normally of her age would probably be doing anything but not this. What she was doing at this tender age, should not be done, not when her busy mother and writer dad were busy arguing over a phone call ,and neglecting their 9 year old’s calling for danger. Risking her own life to save a kitten’s was not something a 9-year-old girl ever thought she would do. But then again, calling her a ‘normal’ kid would be an understatement. She’s much more than, what she seemed like. She too had those two ponytails, right above her two small perfectly shaped ears, her tall tanned body adds beauty to her. The only thing that made her different from other kids of her age was her hyper and full-of-energy attitude. Her thirst of thrilling adventure was not ‘normal’ for a kid, not even for an adult.

And this day too, she was trying to set up an extraordinary attempt of saving a kitten. There she was, climbing up the closest tree, next to an apartment building, doing all these to rescue the same beige kitten, from which she’d got those claw marks from, while counting its nails after she picked it up randomly down the street when she went to for playing.

The kitten seemed very terrified of heights, and it was evident from the horrid look on its face. It was sitting on the uppermost branch of the tree meowing. Roohi, dressed in red blouse and high waisted shorts with the converse sneakers, was trying hard to climb the tree with the crowbar in her back pocket, just in case if there’d be any need for it.

Her intention was to climb the tree, get the kitten, and shimmy back down the tree. She knew kittens were not cooperative when any random stranger would try to grab them, she had the experience before, but that didn’t stop her from making her plan successful. As she climbed the upper branch of the tree, her energy level was dropping and her heart thumped rapidly like it would come out of her small rib cage. Her small yet strong hands moved towards the ‘poor’ kitten, who of course at first tried to attack the girl with its small claws. But her hands didn’t stop, inspite of the pain she felt from those sharp-edged tiny claws of the animal that stretched three long lines down her palm, allowing the warm liquid to ooze out. She grabbed the kitten quickly, not wanting to waste the time, nor the blood that was oozing from her body.

” Kitty, go now! Thank me later, yeah?” She said with a chuckle after letting the kitten go from the grasp of her little hands. She shrugged off all the dust and fur from her clothes.

And that’s when her father noticed her from their house’s window and sprinted out of the door towards her.

” Roohii…what are you doing here baby and what happened to your clothes?” A concerned manly voice attracted her attention and she turned towards the source of the voice, smiling again with the dimples forming on her chubby cheeks.

“Nothing, dad! I was playing with a kitten, but now it left,” she answered smartly to her father, who had missed the adventurous show just by a moment’s time.

” No worries, Sweety, it’ll come back when you are done with your milk,” said her father, showing her the glass of milk that she’d left on the table earlier.

“No daddy, I don’t want to drink that, pweeasee!” The girl said in her baby voice, of course to melt her father’s heart.

” Okay then, don’t drink, but at least come inside, we’ll have some cookies together baby. Don’t say a NO now” Her father was almost pleading to his daughter, with puppy-dog eyes.

” Okie daddy, as you say,” she said and ran inside the house, closing the front door behind.

She was none other than the apple of of Mr. Shekhar and Ms. Tara Dutta’s eyes – Roohi, Roohi Dutta.

‘Enjoying the feeling of adventure and danger’ was on the top of the list of her list, which she once made when her school teacher had asked her to prepare.

Many a times, her father and mother were forced to re-think about their daughter’s blood bonding with them. They used to think harder, if she got replaced in the hospital. But, of course that all was foolish enough to even imagine. She was their daughter- their blood. What confused them most likely was how she’d got this much courage and variablity in her genes. Her courage, her weird likings and her hatred towards their suggestion of watching television, her dis-likings made them bite their fingers hard that they were always in an attempt of trying to stop and protect her.

But who could stop a tornado ? Yeah, she was one, she never stops doing extraordinary stuff and soon they surrendered themselves, for they knew now, not every girl in this world could get this talent and courage.Their daughter was ‘something’, they least expected as an outcome.

” What happened to your right palm, come here?” Mr. Dutta asked wondering, what his daughter did this time.

” Nothing, daddy, just an adventure!” She replied with her twinkling eyes & ran away.

Mumbai never sleeps, for the nocturnal life in the most glamorous city of India habitually consists of half-baked brats, criminals, sick patients, night duty watchmen, and of course writers.

Sitting in his study, surrounded by a stack of classics and transitory fiction paperbacks, Shekhar Dutta was having a staring contest with a blank paper. And he was indeed losing it. He wasn’t against technology; a kindle, an anniversary gift from Tara, was there on the table as a proof. He also used his Dell laptop for research purposes, at least that’s what he claims. Most of his time is spent in trying to find nitpicks that he can publish in local newspaper, in his words, ‘Just to pay the bills’. But when it comes to real writing, nothing can replace the feel of paper on your wrist. He was the old-school type and he was old too. From his eccentric childhood and troublesome teenage he learnt more than a few ways by which he can hide himself behind a smile and habituated to blissful nature, to blend in with others. But at the time of writing, as Gallico said, “You have to bleed”. This was the moment when he was more open and vulnerable. That’s the reason he was awake at 2:45 AM, to be alone. But tonight was different.

The click on the lock and sound of door opening announced the arrival of his wife, Tara. As soon as Tara enters the house she calls to her maid, who was clearly woken up by the bang sound of Tara’s arrival, saying, “I will not have dinner, and get a medicine for headache.”

“Ah, finally. The provider of this home has arrived. Now I can sleep in peace knowing there will be food tomorrow.”

Shekhar said across the hall.

“Not tonight. It was a long day.” Tara said.

“And half of the night.”

“I’m really exhausted. I don’t have any energy left to waste on you,” Tara said undressing the formals and heading toward the powder room.

“You never do, my love.” Shekhar said, slumping back on his chair and thinking how there was a time when his marriage life was picture-perfect, may be too perfect to believe that it was true. But only pictures never change.

It’s not that there is no love anymore, but it’s just not a priority anymore.

“Roohi in bed?” Tara asked coming out of the powder room in a bathrobe.

All the coherent thoughts that formed in Shekhar’s mind went in the dark again. He loved his daughter, she was the reason he decided to be a stay-at-home dad. In his words again, she was the ‘light of his life’. But now, maybe the inferiority complex was getting unbearable or maybe the past he endured so long was at last creeping out or maybe just the priorities have changed.

“So kind of you to remember our daughter, she is in next room watching Showtime,” he said.

“Can’t you give a straight answer to anything? Save the mockery for your writing,” she said glancing at the blank paper.

“Sorry. I am not at right place. I read her Stardust, she fell asleep in the 2nd “I know it is getting hard for you, and I am not around much too, but it is a big project and everything I am doing is for us. If all goes as per the plan, we could enjoy a vacation at month’s end. Where do you wanna go?” She asked climbing the bed.

“Somewhere alone,” he grunted.

“I am no writer, but don’t they say ‘write what you know’? People are writing about their college flings and they are the bestsellers.”

“The first thing to go in a doomed society is art. All these so-called bestsellers, novels, movies and music are crap.”

“Then write some crap. I’m tired of this glooming Shekhar. You must have some interesting experiences too, why don’t you write about your teenage?”

“Sure, honey. Goodnight”

“I was just trying to make a conversation here,” she said dragging the sheets over her head.

“Why I don’t want to write about my teenage? Well, because I don’t want to go in prison,” Shekhar thought.

“Do you fear anything?”Someone asked.
“Yes,I do fear of everything I’ve around me,surrounding me..
Okay,today I’ll tell a second person about my ‘fear of everything’.
I live in a fear of losing everything I’ve with me..
I live everyday with a fear of losing my close ones all together,as they involve themselves in a cat-dog fight.
I do fear losing that tiny tinge of happiness I get everyday when I wake up and see my mom and brother.
I live with a fear of losing the strands of those hopes,I am carrying with me for my better life,for the betterment of my close one’s lives.
I do fear of losing this single tear I shed every night,while having a sudden flashback of those best memories I’ve had with my loved ones.
I do fear of losing my strength..for staying strong for the circumstances I go through,everyday.
And at last I do fear of losing in this race of right and wrong,while supporting the right of my life.” I said after sighing awkwardly